We recently introduced Xtra Styles PAKs for Band-in-a-Box - these are new RealStyles in four categories: Jazz, Country, Rock/Pop, and Singer/Songwriter. Now you could win a prize for submitting a song that you made using an Xtra Style! We have one prize for each category. The winners will receive a $150 USD coupon for a future Band-in-a-Box purchase.

Participating can be as easy as typing in chords to a song, choosing an Xtra style, pressing play, then saving as an audio file and uploading to SoundCloud.

Please read the contest rules below. The contest is open for submission until midnight September 30, 2016

Contest Rules

You must own Band-in-a-Box 2016 along with one or more of the Xtra Styles PAKs.

The song you submit must be your own original composition. As mentioned, this could be simply typing in chords to your song and pressing play, but you may also add additional instruments, solo, and/or melody.

Submit your song to the "Xtra Styles Contest" forum, before the deadline.

To submit a song:

1. Make a song using an Xtra Style. Your song can be entirely Band-in-a-Box tracks, or you can add anything you want to it (vocals, additional instruments, etc.)

2. Save the song as an audio file and upload to SoundCloud (or somewhere else, as long as it can be downloaded/played from a url).

3. Post a new message in this forum that contains (1) a link to your song, (2) the name of the style you used (e.g. _LIBERTY), and (3) the category (e.g. Singer-Songwriter).

Start a new thread for your song, rather than replying to an existing thread. It is a good idea to include the title of your song in your post title. Note: If you're not sure of the category, look for the style name in the 'RealTracks - Demos\Xtra Styles' folder (e.g. RealTracks - Demos\Xtra Styles\Singer-Songwriter\_LIBERTY Demo.sgu').

We will review the songs based on a combination of criteria, including:

Are we allowed to do any modifications on an individual track from the style or does it have to remain 100% as it came in the package. In other words, lets say the guitar track that came in the Xtra style I want to use just does not fit the song perfectly whereas a slightly different guitar track would fit it just fine. All the other tracks in that Xtra style would remain the same.

How do i setup the style picker to show the 164 new RealStyles from the Xtra Styles PAK on my Mac Band in a Box USB drive ?

Hello W!

Sorting by date is a great option for now, as the 2016 Xtra Styles will be at the top of the list. You may also want to get in the habit of clicking on the "Set#" column heading, which groups together all the "Xtra PAK" style options. This will help when we release new styles with a more current date!

Ok, this is going to sound like a really dumb question, but I am not sure what genre to attach to the song I have already posted, Long Distance Runner.

It is prog rock. It comes from the jazz Xtra styles, technically speaking, but I turned it into kind of a rock/jazz or jazz/rock fusion thing. Right now I have Genre: Progressive Rock/Jazz. Do I have to choose a narrower category or am I good?

Also, I would assume you guys only want one posting per artist right, so as not to clog up the board?

Thanks for asking the questions, David. I have also wondered the same.

I've been thinking that since there are four categories of styles in the Xtra styles (namely: pop, rock, jazz, singer/songwriter), by 'genre' PG Music are meaning "What genre style did you use as the foundation for the submission" rather than the over-arching song genre.

The genre/category to post to would be the genre that the RealStyle used is included in. For your recent submission using the STARLIT.STY file, it would fall in the Jazz category.

The rules for this contest do not state that there is only 1 submission per person, so feel free to submit songs for each genre/category if you'd like!

Contest Rules:-You must own Band-in-a-Box 2016 along with one or more of the Xtra Styles PAKs.-The song you submit must be your own original composition. (This could be simply typing in chords to your song and pressing play, but you may also add additional instruments, solo, and/or melody.)

How do i setup the style picker to show the 164 new RealStyles from the Xtra Styles PAK on my Mac Band in a Box USB drive ?

Hello W!

Sorting by date is a great option for now, as the 2016 Xtra Styles will be at the top of the list. You may also want to get in the habit of clicking on the "Set#" column heading, which groups together all the "Xtra PAK" style options. This will help when we release new styles with a more current date!

Hello

CONFUSION

I purchased the 2016 Bonus 49PAK (49PAK-I) December 2015.

I executed this: To find out, look for the file _SANFRAN.STY in your main bb folder.

The file _SANFRAN.STY IS in my bb folder.

However when I sort styles by clicking on the "Set #" column, "Xtra PAK" does not display.

When I sort by date the latest year that is displayed is 2015. Since I purchased the 2016 Bonus 49PAK shouldn't there be 2016 dates displayed?

1. Rebuild the style list by clicking on either of the buttons on the lower left of Stylepicker.

2. Click on "Clear" (#1 on the image below).

3. Single-click on "Date" (#2 on image above) so that a a single asterisk is present next to date. This indicates that the sorting is from the most recent. (Double-clicking will give two asterisks and is not what is wanted.)

4. Scroll to the top of the style list.

Any luck? If not, re-install the Xtra Pak and work through steps 1 - 4 again.

1. Rebuild the style list by clicking on either of the buttons on the lower left of Stylepicker.

2. Click on "Clear" (#1 on the image below).

3. Single-click on "Date" (#2 on image above) so that a a single asterisk is present next to date. This indicates that the sorting is from the most recent. (Double-clicking will give two asterisks and is not what is wanted.)

4. Scroll to the top of the style list.

Any luck? If not, re-install the Xtra Pak and work through steps 1 - 4 again.

Hopefully this will help.

Regards,Noel

I tried the above refresh/rebuild but got the same results.

PG Music says:

Note: The Xtra Styles use RealTracks from the Band-in-a-Box® 2016 UltraPlusPAK, EverythingPAK, or Audiophile Edition, and require Build 437 or higher.A few styles use RealTracks from the 2016 49-PAK. Unsure if you already have the 49-PAK? To find out, look for the file _SANFRAN.STY in your main bb folder. The presence of this file indicates you have the 49-PAK.

I have the EverythingPAK Build 437.

I purchased the 49PAK December 2015 along with the 2016 BB upgrade. So according to the above I have the 49PAK installed because _SANFRAN.STY is in the BB folder.

Does the 49PAK contain Xtra Styles? If it does I don't see them in the Style Picker.

The EverythingPAK + the 49PAK you purchased will give you all you need. (The 49PAK you bought in 12/2015 is the same one that PG Music is referring to.)

Have you installed the 49Pak?

It's probably wise to back up a little...

When you bought the EverythingPAK, how did you install it? Did you install a fully working copy to your hard drive or do you run some of all of the program from the USB drive?

The 49PAK is optional and, because of this, it will not be automatically be installed as part of the EverythingPak. If you purchased the E/PAK as a USB drive, I suspect that the 49PAK is on that USB drive and awaiting installation.

If you bought the EverythingPAK and the 49PAK directly from PG Music, you should also be able to login into your sales account and have download access for those purchases. To do this, go to PG Music's webpage and login using "My Account" (as shown below).

From here you should be able to download the 49PAK if you bought it in December 2015. The link will be under "My Products".

If none of the above work, you need to contact PG Music. They will have a record of your purchases and will be able to organise things for you. They are very good at looking after customers in this way. You will not be double-charged for anything you've already bought.

Hi I am a newbie at this and don't know what I am doing. I have a question. How many songs can I submit?

I am in the flood zone in the Baton Rouge, La. area. As I drove down street after street and saw how home after home had been destroyed I remembered a song I had written and all these homes were the pride and joy of families. Now all of the hand picked items that made this the perfect home sat on side of the road as trash.

I guest when I realized this it really touched my heart. I went home reworked my song, added the xtra track and submitted it. I hope it will help us appreciate how nice it is to have a home to share with family and friends.

You've mentioned having the EverythingPAK and the 49-PAK purchased earlier this year, but did you also purchase the just-released Xtra Styles? The confusion could be that we are stating they use the RealTracks in the 2016 UltraPlusPAK, EverythingPAK, or Audiophile Edition, and 49-PAK - but the Xtra Styles are still an additional purchase: http://www.pgmusic.com/xtrastyles.php(on sale until September 30th)

You've mentioned having the EverythingPAK and the 49-PAK purchased earlier this year, but did you also purchase the just-released Xtra Styles? The confusion could be that we are stating they use the RealTracks in the 2016 UltraPlusPAK, EverythingPAK, or Audiophile Edition, and 49-PAK - but the Xtra Styles are still an additional purchase: http://www.pgmusic.com/xtrastyles.php(on sale until September 30th)

Callie: Thanks for setting the record straight. It seems that I shot off on a tangent. I interpreted VB's posts as saying that he had the XtraPAK.

VB: Apologies for leading your astray. The XtraPAK was only released a month or so ago and is not part of your Christmas purchase.

You've mentioned having the EverythingPAK and the 49-PAK purchased earlier this year, but did you also purchase the just-released Xtra Styles? The confusion could be that we are stating they use the RealTracks in the 2016 UltraPlusPAK, EverythingPAK, or Audiophile Edition, and 49-PAK - but the Xtra Styles are still an additional purchase: http://www.pgmusic.com/xtrastyles.php(on sale until September 30th)

Hi Callie:)

Yes the wording is confusing! That's what I started to suspect but was not sure. I will purchase the Xtra styles. I thought I was losing my mind:) LOL

You've mentioned having the EverythingPAK and the 49-PAK purchased earlier this year, but did you also purchase the just-released Xtra Styles? The confusion could be that we are stating they use the RealTracks in the 2016 UltraPlusPAK, EverythingPAK, or Audiophile Edition, and 49-PAK - but the Xtra Styles are still an additional purchase: http://www.pgmusic.com/xtrastyles.php(on sale until September 30th)

Callie: Thanks for setting the record straight. It seems that I shot off on a tangent. I interpreted VB's posts as saying that he had the XtraPAK.

VB: Apologies for leading your astray. The XtraPAK was only released a month or so ago and is not part of your Christmas purchase.

Islansoul - Since the Xtra Styles will trigger the RealTracks & RealDrums that you already have installed, there's no need to offer a special uncompressed version. If you have the Audiophile, it will trigger the uncompressed files for you.

Like what you hear in Band-in-a-Box®? Make sure to Freeze the track(s) or song! Once frozen, it won't be regeneraged or change when you play it again - and your choice isn't final, since you can unfreeze them just as easily:
-press the blue snowflake button within the track name of the mixer window
-press the blue snowflake button within the expanded toolbar of the program (Ctrl + T will swap between the two toolbar views), and select the track(s)

Note: If you want to force Band-in-a-Box® to generate tracks without adjusting the Freeze settings, hold down the Shift key as you press the [Generate and Play] button (the fly-by hint will remind you of that) or choose the menu command Play | Play Special | Generate (even if tracks are frozen).

One of our favourite products, and one that doesn’t seem to come up much in discussions about music making software, is Band-In-A-Box from PG Music. This is probably the longest established and certainly one of the most popular music making software packages of all time. Already packed with features, the latest version has added functions that in our opinion make this an essential buy for musicians in any genre, for keyboard players, guitarists, singers, in fact any musician looking for an outstanding tool to make the most of their creative ideas.
-www.musicrepo.com

The "Download Manager" within Band-in-a-Box® for Windows is a great tool to confirm or help with the installation of your Band-in-a-Box® for Windows program!

What does the Download Manager do?
Automatically installs Band-in-a-Box® content (RealTracks, RealDrums, etc.) in the background, so you don't have to sit there the whole time! It can also confirm that you've completely installed your purchase.

How do you use it?
Within the program, go to Help | Utilities | Run Download/Install Manager now. Using your activation code, the program will analyze the installation folders, and list anything that still needs to be downloaded and installed.

If you have a folder of songs that you'd always like easy access to within Band-in-a-Box, make sure you familiarize yourself with The SongPicker feature, which access the folder that you choose and lock it to!

Access the SongPicker by clicking on the [Song] button next to the title of the song within the main screen of Band-in-a-Box. The first time the SongPicker is opened, you can choose the folder to use to create the list by selecting [Change] and navigating to your preferred directory. Once chosen, select [OK - Make Song List], and Band-in-a-Box does the rest... the next time you click on [Song], you'll be taken directly to your preferred folder!

Learn even more about this feature within Chapter 5 of our Online Manual, here.

If you have a question (or questions!) about Band-in-a-Box®, PowerTracks, RealBand®, or any other PG Music Inc. product - whether it be technical support or pre-sales, there's now an easy one-stop spot to find the answer - our FAQ and Knowledge Base Forum!

Don't want to read through the 600+ posts? Use the Search FAQ option, and you can choose your key search terms to locate the topic and answer you're looking for!

Common pre-sales questions about our products, ordering, and delivery: Pre-Sales

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